Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Yesterday the fabulous Erica left a comment asking about bar ideas. I'd actually been thinking about doing a post to summarizes all of my bar postings to date, and now seemed like as good of a day as any to do the post! :) As with all the foods on my blog, none of these bar suggestions contain HFCS, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, or sugar alcohols (unless the ingredient lists have changed since my original postings).

So here are the bars I love (and there are more that I will blog about in the future too):

Lydia's Organic Tropical Mango Bar: This bar is really tasty if you like the taste of the tropical fruits (coconut & mango). It is totally raw, vegan, gluten-free, organic, and oil free. It only has fruit in it! In terms of calories, the bar is 43g and has only 110 calories, 7 grams of fat (healthy fat from the coconut), 3 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein (so 2 weight watchers points).

Kind Bars: Sadly, not all kind bars are low in calories even though they are *all* delicious! The flavor I eat is called "Walnut and Date" which is less calories than the others -- with only 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein per bar - so 3 weight watchers points.

GoRaw Banana Bread Flax Bar: If the banana bar looks big in the picture, it is because it is quite large and flat (1.2 oz), and amazingly filling at only 120 calories (and 2 weight watchers points). The only ingredients in the bar are sprouted organic flax seeds, organic banana, organic unsulphured coconut, and organic dates. This particular flavor is 120 calories and 2 weight watchers points.

Fruitabu: The fruitabu smooshed bars have no added sugar, are each half a serving of fruit, and come in several yummy flavors including apple, apricot, grape, raspberry, and strawberry. These bars have 40 calories and are 1 weight watchers point each.

Luna Tea Cakes: A while ago Luna came out with a lower calorie, yummy, mint chocolate flavored "tea" bar I really love called a Luna Tea Cake. This bar is really different than most bars in that it is a bit more like a soft tea flavored cookie with subtle but tasty flavoring, than a dense protein filled bar. I like that the bars contain tea in them, as tea is full of healthy antioxidants. The Mint Chocolate (my personal favorite) and Orange Blossom flavors of the Luna Tea Cake are 130 calories, and only 2 weight watchers points.

Attune Bars: Attune chocolate bars taste a lot like regular candy bars, in fact they are a close substitute to a Nestle's crunch bar. Unfortunately for us, each bar is more petite than a Nestle's crunch, but the Attune bars are still an impressive, filling size, especially considering how yummy they are. Each bar is only 100 calories (except the Dark Chocolate which is only 80 calories), and a very yummy, very healthy, 2 weight watchers points.

SoyJoy: Apple is my favorite flavor. It is 140 calories, with 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein, making it 2 or 2.5 weight watchers points. It also has some iron and vitamin C in it, which is never a bad thing!

Fiberful Bars: I was thrilled when I came across these super-delicious fiber-enriched fruit bars at Trader Joes, which, with 60 calories and 6 grams of fiber, cost 0 WW points to eat! These fruit leathers are quite big in size (20g), and they come in a wide variety of tasty flavors such as apricot, mixed berry (my personal favorite), boysenberry, and strawberry.

Gnu Foods Bars: Gnu bars are great! In particular I really like the chocolate brownie flavor, and I absolutely love the banana walnut flavor (reminds me of banana bread - another food I don't get to eat as often as I would like). As with most of the foods I blog about, these bars are not only super tasty but they contain good ingredients -- full of fiber, whole wheat flower, no artificial flavors, no hydrogenated oils, no high fructose corn syrup, which always puts a smile on my face. Most of their flavors are a filling 2 weight watchers points.

Clif Z Bars: The Clif "Kid" Z Bar is one of my most favorite snack bars. It is very healthy -- it is organic, whole grain, has fiber, and has no artificial ingredients. It is also quite yummy, and filling. It is a great snack. They come in an array of flavors (in order from my favorite to least favorite): Chocolate Chip, Honey Graham, Peanut Butter, Brownie, Blueberry, and Apple Cinnamon.Each bar is a satisfying, yummy, and they are 2 WW points (except the peanut butter flavor, which is 3 WW points).

Yottabar: Yottabar is a "granola" snack bar that contains 1 serving of both fruits and my vegetables, which makes me feel happy about eating it. My favorite flavor is cherry, followed quickly by orange. They have other flavors as well. Yotta bars have 120 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 1 gram of fiber. They are 2 weight watchers points.

Glutino Chocolate and Banana Bars: I love the flavor combination of chocolate combined with banana, although I'm not usually able to find it in snack bars. So, when I found these gluten free chocolate and banana bars made by a company called Glutino at Whole Foods I was really excited. On top of being a delicious flavor, these bars have a lot of other things going for them, namely being totally organic, low calorie, and full of healthy (and desirable) ingredients like dark chocolate chips, quinoa, buckwheat, flaxseeds, and honey.

Luna White Chocolate Macadamia Bar: I'm a huge fan of Luna Tea Cakes, and I like many of the flavors of Luna's regular bars as well. So, when I saw this White Chocolate Macadamia Luna bar at Whole Foods a week or so ago, I absolutely had to try it! I've been a big fan of Luna brand bars for a long time because I like what they stand for -- nutrition for women (although men can totally eat them too!) as well as natural ingredients, combined with great taste.

Larabar Jam Frakas: I recently found a new kind of Larabar at Trader Joe's called JamFrakas. The JamFrakas bars are organic, substantially lower calorie, and targeted at kids. Like Larabars they are quite healthy and full of vitamins and minerals, although the ingredient list is expanded. For instance, the JamFrakas bars contain some ingredients that the regular Larabars do not, as the bars consist of fruits, nuts, honey, chocolate, and whole-grain rice. But, they are still gluten-, soy-, and trans fat-free, and they do not contain any high fructose corn syrup.

Low Calorie Rice Krispy Squares: I *loved* eating rice crispy treats when I was a kid, but I barely ever come across them now that I'm an adult. In particular, rarely do I find a box at Trader Joe's that has a giant picture of a favorite childhood treat on it next to the words "100 calories". In this case Trader Joe's has succeeded in creating a really tasty, creamy marshmallow treat geared towards adults who are health conscious (organic, whole grain, and brown instead of white rice) but want a special treat that isn't completely unhealthy to eat every once in a while.

14 comments:

I'm not a bar person in general, but I want to try that banana bar! it has few ingredients so I can taste well banana I hope.Bars are good things to grab when i'm not at home, but for me most of bar are way too sweet for my taste. That's why when it comes to snack I prefer bread/muffin/pita. :) But good to know more about them, at least it made me wanna to try that one. ^_^

Thanks for all the great bars to try.I definitely have a sweet tooth and often need to eat on the run or in a hurry. A yummy bar feels like a treat and I feel beer knowing I am eating something that is nutritious too. I have tried several of the kind bars- which were delicious but not any of the others!I am looking forward to trying everyones favorites.ThanksBest,Julie

About Yummy Diet Food

Hello. My name is Juliet and I live in the Bay Area. I love food! I am also both weight and health conscious, and I don't like to eat foods full of unhealthy ingredients (especially the ones targeted at dieters these days). So, I created Yummy Diet Food for people like me who are looking for low calorie foods that are both healthy and delicious (meaning *no* artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup or sugar alcohols). Learn More >

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About Me

Hello. My name is Juliet. I live in Northern California, the Bay Area. I love food! But, I am health conscious and I try to follow the Weight Watchers plan while simultaneously eating really healthy, yummy, "better-for-me" low calorie foods!

By the way -- healthy to me means: (1) No High Fructose Corn Syrup (2) No Hydrogenated Oils (3) No Artificial Sweeteners, and (4) No Sugar Alcohols. Learn More....

Lastly, I don't eat a lot of meat, so this is a vegetarian friendly blog.